MP3 is crap!

[ninja_butler]

Why is there no public demand for anything better than MP3? If you compare it to a format like FLAC or Ogg Vorbis (yes, it is a stupid name) it sounds utterly, hopelessly crap.

Does no one these days care about sound quality? I'm sick of MP3, yes it was an excellent format in the old days when my PC had an 80GB hard drive and most MP3 players were less than 1GB, but these days media players have massive storage capacity! The only advantage of MP3 files is their small size so why are we still using them?

https://www.themusicvoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/researching-careers-music81.jpg

[Seb]

Same reason people buy Beats headphones and blare music from mobile phones frankly
____________________
2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[ninja_butler]

They're tone deaf?

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[ninja_butler]

Vinyl is good - some would even say it's the best - but CD's still use crappy old MP3 format so you're just listening to MP3's through better speakers. Isn't it strange that people will spend £1000 on a top quality sound system but only play low quality media on it?

edit* I should say two-channel 16-bit PCM before someone picks up on that.

[Rogerborg]

People still use mp3? I encode as WMA, and I'm (usually) a filthy Lunix hippy.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Years ago I sat down and encoded all my CDs to MP3. I'm not going to bother doing it again to a different format.
____________________
Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[daemonoid]

[Charlie]

[Frost]

I get all my stuff in FLAC these days. There was some torrent site a mate showed me a while back that had all the albums properly labelled and indexed, with multiple qualities available for download for each, usually 128, 192, 320 and FLAC.

To be honest MP3 is pretty good provided you get it in 320 bit rate. anything below 192 sounds a bit crappy when loud. 128 is basically radio quality.

[J.M.]

I find MP3 more than adequate enough for me. I generally have my music on in the background and not on overly loud. If I listen whilst riding then the headphones I use are too rubbish to care about HQ.

So personally I've never wondered about anything better. There's not exactly any point in converting what I have already though - you can't really add already lost quality.

What about M4A, I thought that was designed to be a higher quality version of MP3?
____________________
2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[Frost]

M4A / MP4 is mostly used for video.
Though MP3 sampled at 44.2khz is twice that of the human hearing range it's the minimum to be able the do all frequencies in the hearing range. As a result it can get overwhelmed if the music has a lot of high frequencies noises. Also the hiss that comes from the music means the volume has to be bumped up to overcome it. I listen to a fuck load of classical music where it can be very noticeable.

[stigger]

[daemonoid]

[Alpha-9]

Meh, who cares. Mp3 is plenty enough quality. Anyone that says otherwise is a DJ skrillex wannabe connoisseur



____________________
Fzr-600 1999

[The Artist]

Not sure why people still use it but small file sizes are easier for downloading and transferring.

Not everyone has a 20mb internet connection.

If I want some music and FLAC is available, I will get it but if not, I am not too fussed unless it is for a specific purpose. e.g. I downloaded a bunch of FLAC THX sound check things which are pretty cool played loud.

[adamck]

https://www.lincomatic.com/mp3/mp3quality.html

A pretty in depth test on this site with CD vs MP3 for quality testing.
In his conclusion a 256Kbps MP3 was pretty much exactly the same as CD quality.
a 192kbps MP3 is acceptable for computer/in the car listening.

So MP3 isnt all bad if encoded with good software at a variable bit rate to a higher Kbps.

320kbps isnt noticeably different in sound to 192kbps so not worth doing.

An i agree that its crazy the amount of people buying studio quality headphones to listen to crap quality MP3's.
____________________
<insert><something><useful>Here</useful></something></insert>

[calyx]

[The Artist]

Anyone with a semi decent sound system can tell you there is a big difference between 192 and FLAC

[whitedevil]

mp3 sounds 95% as good as the source and is 1/4 the file size.
Whats not to like?

I'm sure if i was rich i'd have a £100,000 sound system and wank over my flac collection.
Or like most of the population i'd have a £200 system and cant tell difference, or care.
____________________
GPZ500 sold ~ CBR600FS-2 sold ~ ZX6R sold ~ Street Triple R

[JonB]

If there is one thing I hate more than wannabe wine connoisseurs it has to be wannabe audiophiles.

You start a thread claiming MP3s are rubbish and then basically claim that a CD is just like an mp3. I'm not even remotely interested in the subject yet I know you can store 700MB of mp3s on a CD, so clearly a normal CD is not in mp3 format otherwise you'd be able to fit more than 20 songs on it!

I'm just disappointed that my current golf stereo, which whilst being touchscreen and a DAB unit, iPod connectivity, 6 CD changer blah blah has worst audio quality output than my old golf which only read MP3 CDs.
____________________
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

I'm no audiophile, an obsessive music listener and music maker I am.

There are times I want music just in the background, so quality isn't important..encoded music does ok for this. There are times I want to pick up a guitar and just thrash the knackers off it for an hour. I'm not interested in tone or whether the strings are old and dull.

Then there are moments when I need to hear the sound of a squeaking Bass Drum pedal on a record, the reverb tail of a low minor chord played on a piano. The full frequency force of a Minimoog bassline.
For music made with traditional instruments you can get a 'sense' of the room the song was recorded in (although if may of been added later).

It's the lack subtlety in lossy compression that I don't want when I'm sitting back relaxing with the speakers pointed at my ears.
Same as I don't want to hit an A major powerchord on the Gibson with crusty strings, only for it to disappear faster than coke at Whitney's house.

Music producers factor-in, that their tracks will be heard through crappy buds or phone speakers. It's not a new thing. They've always used domestic equipment to field-test. Now they have the technology to make the Bass sound as though it's actually moving air, the hi-hats to sizzle.

If I really like a piece of music I buy it on LP or CD and listen to it using decent equipment. I also love my cassettes, the hiss, the overdriven sound even the flutter and because I'm an emotional type of bloke I like the drop-outs on old mixtapes traded many many moons ago.
What's to like about an MP3 glitch (or any digital glitch) They destroy the listening experience instantly, unlike a 40yr old piece of vinyl that crackles just so before the music starts.




In short. MP3 have no soul. Invented by Ginger haired people.
____________________
Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[stinkwheel]

I'd take the pepsi challenge between MP3 and FLAC given a decent quality amp and speakers.

Although if you want to hear how good audio can be, try listening to a white stripes vinyl LP. They use analogue masters and high quality pressings.

I'll agree there is absolutely no point in having high quality audio in the car but there is in my living room.

What I hate more than anything else though is an amp turned up way too high and clipping off the signal and people do this a hell of a lot. Especially in cars. I've even heard it being done in a nightclub fairly recently. When people are prepared to volountarily sit and listen to their music like that, it doesn't come as a surprise to me that they are totally comfortable with the sound quality of the most highly compressed MP3 they can find.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Alpha-9]

[The Shaggy D.A.]